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Two ‘near misses’ reported at Burnley General hospital after swab incident

HOSPITAL bosses have revealed that there were two further ‘near misses’ after it was discovered a swab had been left inside a woman’s body when she was treated as a patient at Burnley General Hospital.

The Lancashire Telegraph has previously reported how the hospital changed its procedures after the incident at the Women and Newborn Centre in July last year.

Staff now use purple wristbands to remind them to remove surgical items from patients’ bodies, following an occurrence of what is classed as the ‘never event’ – something so serious it should never happen in the NHS.

Chief nurse Christine Pearson told board members at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust: “Whilst progressing the introduction of the purple wristband, two further near misses were reported through the incident reporting system.

“These cases were reviewed and reported and no additional factors were identified that had not been identified and actioned in the reviews following the serious untoward incident.

“An action plan was developed and approved and all actions have been completed and the purple wristband system has been implemented. ”